Charles j



(N0 Modll') I G. J. KINTNER.

BICYCLE HANDLE.

No. 599,564. Patented Peb.22, 1898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. KINTNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BICYCLE-HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,564, dated February 22, 1898. Application filed v mbe 9 1896- Serial No. 611,459. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. KINTNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New Yorkand State of New York, have made a new and useful Invention in Bicycle Handles or Grips, of which the following is a specification.-

My invention relates to detachable handles or grips for use in connection with bicycles, velocipedes,and the like, said handles or grips being adapted to be attached to the ordinary handle-bars thereof at any preferred points between the permanent handles or grips and the steering-post; and its objects are, first, to enable the rider'to shift his position when riding, so as to vary the same in accordance with the conditions under which he is riding and to simultaneously enable him to so shift- -the adjustable handles or grips as to afford a comfortable gripping or holding position thereof; second, to enable the rider to vary the angular relation of such adjustable handles or grips to the handlebars in all directions and also to vary the height thereof to suit his convenience, and, third, to afford a convenient detachable means of carrying small articles of utility, such as matches, cigarettes, and the like.

My invention will be fully understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of my preferred form of a supplemental handle. Fig. 2 shows in vertical elevation the application of my invention to the well-known form of bicycle handle-bars. Fig. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the application of my invention for the purpose of utilizing it as a holding device for various small-sized articles. Fig. 4 is a developed plan view illustrating one of the clips by which my improved supplemental handle is held to the handlebars of a bicycle.- Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view illustrating a modified form of the invention, and Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are respectively detail plan and sectional views of parts of the modified form shown in Fig. 5.

Many persons who ride bicycles permanently so adjust the handle-bars thereof that the handles are much lower than the seats upon which they ride, and by reason of this fact they find it necessary, when descending hills or when for any other reason it becomes uncomfortable to ride in the position indicated, to grasp the handle-bars at points near the steering-post. It is also a well-known fact that by continuous grasping of the handles during a long ride the muscles of the hands and the lower arms become in a measure temporarily paralyzed and that relief is had by grasping the handle-bars at different points. My invention is designed particularly toeffect such relief, and this is accomplished by the use of supplemental handles or grips adapted to be detachably attached to the handle-bars of a bicycle at points intermediate the ordinary handles or grips and the steering-post, said handles or grips being sustained by vertical standards and so attached to the handle-bars as to give universal movement of the same in all directions.

My invention also contemplates the utilization of the body part of such a handle or grip as a carrying device for matches, cigarettes, and such other articles of utility as may be required by the rider when on the road, said body part being detachable, however, from its supporting-standard, so as to enable the rider to place it in his pocket and carry it home or elsewhere and there fill it with the articles he desires to use, afterward restoring it to its position, so that it may serve the double function of a handle or grip and a holding device.

Referring now to the drawings in detail,

bars, andH H the well-known form of cork handles or grips ordinarily used with bi cycles.

The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in sectional view in Figs. 1 and 3, and wherein O 0 represent strong narrow flexible steel clips semicircular at their opposite ends and screw-threaded exteriorly, so that when wrapped around the handlebars B in the manner shown in Fig. 1 they constitute when held together face to face a screw-threaded bolt adapted to receive one end of a strong interiorlyscrew-threaded metallic tube or standard A, provided at its lower end with an eight-sided nut N for firmly securing said standard in position thereon. Asecond clip 0, like the one which surrounds the handle-bars B, is secured to 5 P represents the steering-post, B the handlethe upper end of the standard A in the same manner and surrounds a detachable handle or grip II. This second clip 0 is preferably provided with a longer screw-threaded stem part 25 t, adapted to thereby afford vertical and angular adjustability of the handles or grips H.

In the form shown in Fig. 1 the handle or grip II consists of a thin tube surrounding a light wooden core, to the ends of which are secured ornamental caps E E by screws, as shown. The clips C C are secured at any desired points upon the handlebars B, and the vertical standards A screwed firmly home by means of a wrench acting upon the nuts N. The handles or grips II are then secured in place by the clips 0 and may be either secured in the middle thereof, as shown in Fig. 1, or at one end, as shown in Fig. 3. By reason of the flexibility and adjustability of the clips C C it is apparent that the supplemental handles or grips H II may assume any angular inclination with relation to the handle-bars B, so that the rider can adjust them in all directions and accommodate them to his convenience. This I have found in actual practice to be a Very important feature of my invention, for it enables the rider either to grasp the supplemental handles or grips II II directly or 'to rest the palms of the hands thereon on descending a hill and the fingers upon the handle-bars proper. In Fig. 3 I have shown how this supplemental handle or grip H may be utilized as a match-box or a means of carrying any portable article which the rider desires to carry. One cap or end E is pivoted or hinged at h and adapted to be held closed by a spring-catch c, carrying an operating pushbutton I), extending through an opening near one end of the handle or grip H. Another means of effecting the same result is illustrated at the other end of Fig. 3, where E is shown as a screw-threaded cap adapted to be secured to the handle or grip II by interior screw-threads in one end thereof. It is apparent that this carrying device may be constructed in any preferred form or provided with any preferred compartments. A very important feature of this part of my invention lies in the fact that this supplemental handle or grip H, and hence its interior or inclosed retaining box or chamber, may be readily removed from its sustaining-standard and transported by the rider to his home or to any other point where it may be filled with the articles he desires to use, such as matches, cigarettes, or the like.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated a modified form in which the thin metallic clip C is composed at one end of a hollow tube and at the other is screw-threaded at t, as before. D is a metal cup having a hollow downwardly-extending stem adapted to fit accurately in the hollow end of the clip 0, and II is a hollow rubber ball, slit or otherwise provided with an opening G, adapted to receive a second cup D,

provided with a downwardly-extending stem screw-threaded on its inside at t, the arrangement being such that when the cup-shaped end of the part D is put inplace through the opening in the rubber ball H" and the parts slipped together into the position shown in Fig. 5 the lower end i of the clip 0 may be turned upward,so as to enter the screw-threaded part i of the cup D. Upon rotating the cup D and the ball If and its internal cup D to the right the screw-threaded part i will be caused to ascend into the screw-threaded part 25 and firmly grasp the clip (1 about the handle-bars B in substantially the same manner as does the clip C. (Shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.) In place of the rubber balls H, I may and have used cork balls. I may also construct the cups D and D of semiellipsoidal form and provide a yielding part H of ellipsoidal form, made of what is known in the art as artists soft rubber, either glued to or secured to the parts D D in any preferred manner, thereby affording ayielding handle to the rider.

I am aware that it is broadly old in the art to provide handles or grips fora bicycle which may be detachably attached to the ordinary handle-bars at points intermediate the ends thereof and the steering-post, such as is disclosed, for instance, in United States Patent to Martin, No. 339,446, granted April 6, 1886, and British Patent to Smith, No. 705 of 1891, and I make no claim hereinafterbroad enough to include this generic feature, my broadest claims in this particular being directed to a detachable handle or grip adapted to be secured to the handle-bars of a bicycle at points intermediate the ends thereof by a vertical standard, which standard is so secured to the handle-bars as to enable it to assume any angular position with relation thereto, the supplemental handle or grip in turn being detachably secured to the outer end of such standard. Nor do I claim, broadly, a bicyclehandle provided with a chamber for carrying various articles of utility, as this feature is old, as disclosed in British Patent No. 15,462 of 1893, my broadest claim in this particular being to a bicycle-handle provided with a chamber for carrying various articles of utility, said handle and its containingchamber being wholly detachable or removable from the supporting parts thereof, whereby it may be conveyed by the rider to his home or any other point for the purpose of filling it with the articles to be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Iatent of the United States, is-

1. As an article of manufacture a tube or standard screw-threaded interiorly at its opposite ends, a pair of clips provided with screw-threads adapted to fit within the screwthreads of said standard, and a handle or grip adapted to be secured by one of said clips, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture a supplestandard and a clip secured thereto and surrounding and securing said standard to the handle-bar of a bicycle, in combination with a hollow grip having a removable cap or cover, the grip being detachably secured to the upper end of said standard by adjustable means adapted to vary its angular location with relation to the handle-bar and standard to suit the convenience of the rider, substantially as described. 1

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 7th day of November, 1896.

CHARLES J. KINTNER.

Witnesses:

JAMES P. J. lVIORRIS, LEONARD PAGE'I. 

